The i.MX 937 system on a chip (SoC) balances high-performance edge AI with a cost- and power-optimized design in a reliable, scalable platform.
Edge designers are too often stuck choosing between underpowered entry-level chips and expensive high-end processors. Lacking a middle ground, scaling designs both up and down can be difficult and costly. As designs change and product lines expand, engineers need microprocessor (MPU) lineups that are flexible and scalable enough to grow with them.
NXP resolves these gaps with the new i.MX 937 applications processor— smart and cost-efficient solution specifically designed to scale your automotive, industrial and IoT edge deployments. With a quad-core Arm® Cortex®A55 complex, a dedicated NXP eIQ® Neutron neural processor (NPU) and drop-in compatibility—with the i.MX 95 and i.MX 952 families—the i.MX 937 equips you to transform ambitious concepts into responsive, secure, cost- and power‑efficientedge products.
Why Choose the i.MX 937 Apps Processor?
Designers today are often confined by rigid hardware architectures lack adaptability for a broad spectrum of applications. When a project requires a performance boost or a new AI feature, the status quo usually demands a complete, risky and expensive printed circuit board (PCB) redesign. Many upgrade paths lack the pin-to-pin and software compatibility needed to efficiently scale a product line. As a result, teams face the complex task of managing multiple software streams and disparate hardware layouts as their product line expands.
Block diagram for the i.MX 937 applications processor.
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The i.MX 937 processor helps alleviate bottlenecks. Featuring drop-in compatibility with the i.MX 95 and i.MX 952 families, the i.MX 937 processor lets you design a single system to seamlessly scale performance up or down. It unlocks unprecedented flexibility to meet your specific market needs without the added overhead of starting from scratch so you can ensure your product portfolio is always ready for what comes next.
High-Performance Multimedia and Edge AI
The i.MX 937 MPU is designed to be a Linux®-capable platform for modern Human-Machine Interface (HMI) and edge AI applications. To that end, the device features a 1.4 GHz quad-core Arm Cortex -A55 complex for application processing, a dedicated 667 MHz Arm Cortex -M7 for real-time workloads and a lower-power Arm Cortex-M33 core for system management tasks. This compute complex is supported by up to 4500 MT/s x16 or x32 low-power double data rate (LPDDR)5 or 3733 megatransfers per second (MT/s) LPDDR4x with inline error correction code (ECC)and memory encryption.
The multimedia subsystem is equally rich, featuring an Arm® Mali™G310 3D graphics processing unit (GPU)and a 1080p video processing unit (VPU)for H.264 encoding and H.264 / H.265 decoding. To support advanced vision, the chip includes an NXP eIQ Neutron NPU that delivers 2 eTOPS* of machine learning (ML) acceleration. Meanwhile, a mobile industry processor interface-camera serial interface (MIPI-CSI) with red green blue-infrared (RGB-IR) support equips designers to implement camera systems with minimal external components.
(*NOTE—eTOPs or “equivalent TOPs” is a performance metric based on the average performance of the device in relation to the i.MX 8M Plus applications processor across multiple benchmarks.)
Key Specs at a Glance
- Quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 up to 1.4 GHz
- Arm Cortex-M7 real-time core at 667 MHz
- Arm Cortex-M33 low-power system manager core
- NXP eIQ Neutron NPU (2 eTOPS)
- Arm Mali G310 3D GPU
- 1080p60 H.265/H.264 decode; H.264 encode VPU
- 4500 MT/s x16 or x32 LPDDR5 or 3733 MT/s LPDDR4x with inline ECC and memory encryption
- EdgeLock® Secure Enclave
- Flip chip ball grid array (FCBGA) package options compatible with i.MX 952 and i.MX 95 families
Maximum Scalability, Minimum Effort
A major obstacle commonly encountered by engineering teams is the fragmentation of development resources when moving between entry-level and high-performance models. Traditionally, scaling a product meant porting software to new Board Support Packages (BSPs) and managing entirely different toolchains. With the i.MX 937 processor, you can access a unified development ecosystem sharing the same BSP, security architecture and boot structure as the flagship i.MX 95 and i.MX 952 families. By using a single software investment, you can deploy products across a wide range of performance tiers.
The hardware offers paths to scalability as well. The cost-optimized 15 x 15 mm FCBGA package is pin-to-pin compatible with the i.MX 952 family and is designed to support cost-effective 6-to 8-layer through-hole PCBs while meeting the typical Automotive and Industrial PCB design rules. The larger 19 x 19 mm package is compatible with both the i.MX 952 and i.MX 95 families.
Real World Impact
The i.MX 937 delivers the compute and multimedia performance that brings intelligence to every corner of the automotive, industrial and IoT landscape.
Automotive
With its powerful 3D-capable GPU the i.MX 937 processor is a perfect fit for applications such as standalone head units, secondary displays and two-wheeler connected clusters.
Industrial Automation and Robotics
Factory floors need robots that can see and respond in real time while maintaining strict safety standards. The i.MX 937 provides the 3D graphics and NPU acceleration needed for humanoid or mobile robots to perform object recognition and path planning. With dual Gigabit Ethernet and time-sensitive networking (TSN) support, the device ensures your industrial HMI and control systems remain seamlessly synchronized across the network.
Smart Home and Building Control
In the smart home ecosystem, the i.MX 937 processor enables a highly secure gateway or advanced HMI panel. Designers can use the display and camera interfaces to build high-resolution video doorbells or security panels with local AI for face‑trackingand voice assistants. Meanwhile, the integrated EdgeLock Secure Enclave keeps sensitive user data protected at the hardware level.
Healthcare and Patient Monitoring
Medical instrument HMIs need ultra-reliable displays and real-time control to ensure patient safety. The i.MX 937 processor enables designers to create high-resolution monitoring devices that track vitals and leverage edge AI to alert staff of any anomalies. Its secure boot and cryptographic acceleration help fulfill strict regulatory requirements for patient data privacy.
The i.MX 937 Processor Advantage
To recap, the i.MX 937 SoC offers
- Cost-efficient real-time and applications compute for Linux-based systems
- Drop-in compatibility with the i.MX 95 and i.MX 952 families
- Dedicated 2 eTOPS NPU for efficient edge AI and vision processing
- High-performance 3D GPU and 1080p VPU for immersive HMI experiences
- Advanced hardware security through the EdgeLock Secure Enclave
The i.MX 937 equips you to build smarter, scale faster and deliver products that truly lead the market.
Ready to build your next design? Explore the i.MX 937 product page to learn more.
